Maui and Molokai Helicopter tour

[Guest]

Hikers and drones do there fair share of damage/invasion also (trails, camp sites, etc. etc.), it's really a matter of tolerance from both sides or ban both activities to "preserve" the tranquility -- in which case the "Beauty" would not be experienced by anyone.  I haven't hiked any location yet (and I hike A LOT, at least 5 days a week all over this planet) where I haven't found refuse and environmental damage from hikers/campers.

 

I'm aware of the "bigger picture", the question is who's picture and how big do you want to make it?  You initiated a discussion of what appears to be pro-drone (drones aren't silent either and can be very invasive to privacy) and anti-helicopter based on noise.  It almost sounds like a debate for the sake of debating and like I said, to expand on it further moves towards the political realm which is not permitted at AVSIM.

 

But to put some fact to the helicopter tours, it's simply NOT true ... we used Maverick Helicopters which is the most popular for Maui and they have 3 helicopters,  Blue Hawaiian have 3 helicopters also, but I only saw two active.  But due to weather conditions in Maui it's rare to see more than about 4-5 active at any point in time at very different locations.  Like I said earlier, at the locations we hike I saw 3 helicopters over a 6 hour period where the noise lasted for about 10 seconds.  The helicopter hover locations we went to are not accessible by hikers or just about anyone except perhaps rock climbers (which as I understand it is rare) ... maybe a few mountain goats.

 

But like I suggested before, find tolerance, otherwise the only fair approach would be to eliminate all activities (hikers, campers, helicopters).  Not something I'd like to see happen, but if it was deemed important for the "bigger picture" then so be it, plenty of other ways to enjoy Maui.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[mwilk 1,106]

We've been to Maui a bunch of times and never found the helicopters to be particularly invasive. You know they're there. Trust me, they have much bigger issues on Maui like having enough affordable housing for its citizens and the issue of homelessness. 

[ppo 67]

Tks for the video Rob. A pleasure to watch.

I have noticed however something very interesting from this live video.

The bloom effect (real as it gets considering the camera used) that is noticeable on the clouds and shoreline with waves.

I just kind of noticed that real effect is what we have in P3D now. It is very close. I use PTA and HDR.

I am still surprised. Will download the video and look at it more closely.

Tks again Rob

[HighBypass 2,339]

But like I suggested before, find tolerance, otherwise the only fair approach would be to eliminate all activities (hikers, campers, helicopters).  Not something I'd like to see happen, but if it was deemed important for the "bigger picture" then so be it,....

 

To a certain degree this is happening in the UK. Many ramblers (hikers, walkers), the vocal minority, would wish to abolish horses and also all forms of wheeled transportation (bicycles, trail bikes and 4x4s)  from the green lanes which are legally open to all these types of usage. Green lanes are ancient roads running through areas of natural beauty, which were traversed in days of old by horses & carriages and used by farmers taking their stock to market and other grazing lands etc. Once said ramblers become too infirm to walk far, how can they continue to enjoy the countryside?

 

We don't have the same prevalence for heli tours over our National Parks and Areas of Natural Beauty though.

 

But having tolerance is a good thing, on that we can agree.

 

...The bloom effect (real as it gets considering the camera used) that is noticeable on the clouds and shoreline with waves.

I just kind of noticed that real effect is what we have in P3D now...

 

Going off topic a little: IMHO sims should strive to mimic what the human eye sees directly rather than what we see via a video feed - are you saying P3D is getting close to that? If so then that is excellent news:cool: 

[Minos 26]

 

 

I'm aware of the "bigger picture", the question is who's picture and how big do you want to make it?  You initiated a discussion of what appears to be pro-drone (drones aren't silent either and can be very invasive to privacy) and anti-helicopter based on noise.  It almost sounds like a debate for the sake of debating and like I said, to expand on it further moves towards the political realm which is not permitted at AVSIM.

 

 

 

This is not true. I am certainly not pro-drone and if you read carefully, my message certainly did not imply that. What I am pointing out was the hypocrisy of banning drones in the NPS because they disturb and yet leaving out helicopters free to roam and scud-run over the NPS despite them having a much larger (and annoying) footprint.

 

Otherwise, you are wrong.

Blue Hawaiian is much larger than what you imply. They have at least 7 helicopters permanently based in Kahului, Maui but that can vary up during high demand periods (Christmas).They might even have some based in Kapalua, but I am not 100% sure about that.

 

 

And again, it is not a question of you having more or less rights. Supersonic flights are not legal over land in the US for a reason. Oh, and no mountain goats in Hawaii. 

We don't have the same prevalence for heli tours over our National Parks and Areas of Natural Beauty though.

 

Blessed you are.

Having four or five choppers simultaneously hovering/circling over your head at 500ft while watching molten lava on the Big Island of Hawaii is totally no fun. It will be a sad state of affair the day we will have to wear Bose noise suppression headphones (like Blue Hawaiian pax)  when trying to go, experience, hear, and feel nature within a unit of the National Park System.

[Guest]

The bloom effect (real as it gets considering the camera used) that is noticeable on the clouds and shoreline with waves.

 

That most likely is just operator error (aka me) ... there are an exposure setting (aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, and auto) that basically emulate the same settings used for still images only applied to movie operation.   I left it in "Auto" so everything is adjusted by metering.  I should have experimented to get better balance (but there is always a trade-off).  I made this video during the "Supermoon" a few days ago from our backyard ... lots of atmospheric shimmering but if you watch until the end of the video as the moon's orbit starts to move out of view (camera's reference points) the camera attempts to increase exposure and the moon starts to "blow-out".  Again I was in the wrong "mode" for night shooting, should have been in manual mode ... still learning.

 

 

Cheers, Rob.

[ppo 67]

Tks for the clarification Rob. I understand.

My comment was more about the bloom effect in real life and the software to reproduce it.

In looking at your video (in the chopper) in "auto" mode sort of reproduced more bloom than normal and that got my attention.

In flight simming nowadays with the proper hardware you can get better feel (visually) for flying and one aspect that has seen quite a bit

of improvement lately is the rendering of light in the simulator.

And P3D is doing a good job of it particularly when you can "tune" the shaders. I use PTA.

I am presently working on a way of demonstrating that...(if that is possible, I dunno)

Anyways, you have a nice day,